large areas of queensland have suffered devastating floods in the last few days.
parts of new south wales, victoria, tasmania and south australia have also been affected.. i'm in adelaide, there is blue sky and life goes on as normal.
but it's heartbreaking to see what's happening in the east of the country.. aussies, please check in and let us know how you are going.. penny.
The flood that hit Toowoomba - they called it an "inland tsunami". I didn't think it was possible for that to happen. Just terrifying! Many of us down south have just been glued to our TVs.
doofdaddy, thanks for checking in - hope you'll be OK.
penny
large areas of queensland have suffered devastating floods in the last few days.
parts of new south wales, victoria, tasmania and south australia have also been affected.. i'm in adelaide, there is blue sky and life goes on as normal.
but it's heartbreaking to see what's happening in the east of the country.. aussies, please check in and let us know how you are going.. penny.
Large areas of Queensland have suffered devastating floods in the last few days. Parts of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia have also been affected.
I'm in Adelaide, there is blue sky and life goes on as normal. But it's heartbreaking to see what's happening in the east of the country.
Aussies, please check in and let us know how you are going.
penny
2010 will go on the record as a great year for me!
in november i heard from my youngest son (a jw), who i have not heard from in 8 years (i am an exjw).
hearing from him was wonderful enough, but he added to that joy by telling me he was married (to a non-jw) and i have a grandchild.
Hi Expanded-Mind, it must be wonderful having your son in your life again.
Since November - that's not very long. I'd say don't stress, the situation will become evident in time. Don't ask about his views on the JWs at all. Instead, ask questions about general things such as how they met, what the inlaws are like, did they have a big wedding, etc. This might lead them to showing you their wedding photos (then you can see if they married in a church and who in the family were at the wedding).
Or you could say, "I haven't seen the other kids for so long, I miss them so much. Do you have any photos of them?"
Or, "I'm so happy you got in touch, it's just turned my life around. Do you think there's any chance other members of the family would speak to me now?" That might prompt him to tell you what frame of mind the others are in, and in the process it may become obvious how he's thinking.
Once you have loads of clues that he's no longer a believer, you could ask, "Do you go to meetings still?" The answer could be, "Hell no, I disassociated five years ago, sorry, I thought you realised that." OR, "Not since I got disfellowshipped, but one of the sisters is studying with my wife and I'll be going back when she starts attending."
Good luck!
penny
new cartoon, i hope this isn't considered spam but this one took me a while and i'd like to share it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_pqu0bln74.
one criticism (god, that word reminds me of the tms) was that my other videos weren't boring enough to match what it's really like as a jw, i think i've captured it a bit better in this video.. also, it's meant to be fairly non offensive because i hope jw's can take a sneaky peak.
Love it!
Haven't been from door to door for over 20 years but it's exactly like I remember it. I even felt a bit nervous when the door was about to open. And sorry for the kid.
I think the Aussie accent highlights the boredom a bit more than say, the American accent would.
penny
in my introductory post i told about the jws that have been visiting me at my sil's request.
at first i spoke with them for her sake, then found i liked them anyway.
what i didn't like was the literature, especially the stuff trying to disprove evolution.
Retro, hi from Adelaide!
Could it be a "gentler" version here in Oz
I think this is definitely the case in many congregations. It depends on the local elders.
Aussies are generally pretty relaxed and most JWs here tend to be also. They just like to live a quiet life, have a BBQ and a beer on the weekend and coast along in the JW lifestyle. So to outsiders they will appear fairly normal.
But disfellowshipping happens here like everywhere else. If you are disfellowshipped you will be excluded and no longer be part of that happy, close and supportive family.
penny
i was there as a kid... i know i was but for the life of me i can't find anything about it in here or on google!.
early 1970s... what year was it?.
what was it called?.
Sydney, December 1973. We drove over from Adelaide, a trip which took a couple of days.
Before the convention there were rumours going around in the local congregations that Armageddon could start during the convention. The 1975 hype was still going strong and the thought was that the "end" would come by October 1975 at the latest, so this seemed a likely time. When the bomb scare happened, there was a lot of expectation in the air.
on first of december we had a manifestation to condemn the ostracism practiced from jehovah's witnesses against every disfellowshipped.
we made this manifestation in rome near the chamber of deputies.
at the event were present people from all over italy and some from switzerland.. what was done?.
Wow! This is great to hear.
penny
new to writing yes, to reading no, been reading here for 18 months or so.
[ been trying to join for a while now, but kept getting an error message, until i read in the tech section, throw out your cookies, so i did, my wife brought me a cup of tea and cake, and here i am, even us "bushies" know what cookies are, round pastry things, cooked to golden brown... anyway] i don't know how many have read the writing "it hurts" at doc browns http://www.docbob.org/wordpress/?p=822 i am sure many can connect to one/some of the things written at one time or other, i certainly could.
but "if laughter be the best medicine" as someone i cant remember once said, then i would like to put you people on notice, "you will all be facing a jc hearing soon" as you have had me pissing myself laughing, from the time i've been reading here, and as you all should know, laughter is a nono" not ever mentioned in km agenda "so your all bad" and i am thanking you for being so.
Hi fadinfast, welcome from Adelaide. Presume you're in the outback of Oz somewhere. Hope you and your wife get on the same page soon, it's nice when you can discuss everything openly and move on with your life.
penny
just watching a show here in oz called talkin' bout your generation.
http://ten.com.au/talkin-bout-your-generation.htm.
it pits 3 different teams from 3 different generations, gen b, gen x & gen y. it tests their general knowledge of events/people/facts across the 3 different generations.
I happened to notice yesterday's daily text (which pops up when you start up the WT Library CD)
".......When adjustments are made in explanation of Bible texts or in how things are done, we want to accept them. We are delighted to see evidence that the spiritual light is still increasing. (Prov. 4:18) If we find it hard to understand a change, we ask Jehovah to help us to comprehend the point. Meanwhile, we endure in an obedient course, keeping our integrity."
It basically covers them for any changes they want to make - no questions asked, just endure. And be delighted in the meantime.
penny
since realizing that the watchtower bible and tract society is not god's organization, everything that they say, not coming directly from the bible, has to be questioned and exposed to the light of truth.
the same should be done to all religious organizations since most do have their own set of unique beliefs which according to them sets that particular religion apart from all others, thereby making it better, more spiritual, closer to true worship, and having god's approval that other religions do not have.
sometimes even claiming that they alone can provide what mankind needs, spiritually, for salvation and that all other religions represent the "wide road" leading to eternal destruction during the judgement day or armageddon..
So, what direction is, ummm, correct?
At least now that I am no longer a Jehovah's Witness, I have the freedom to explore other ways of thinking. That makes life much more interesting. Even if I don't come up with the answers.
